


I’m In Too Deep, Can’t Touch The Bottom With My Feet

by JjdoggieS



Series: I Fell In Love With My Best Friend [4]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Drug Use, Drugs, F/M, Fiveya Week, Fiveya Week 2020, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, It's gonna be rough, Lots of Angst, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Recreational Drug Use, but we'll see, fiveya - Freeform, i'm just tagging to be safe tbh, it might get a shade dark, sparrow academy au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27380779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JjdoggieS/pseuds/JjdoggieS
Summary: Shortly after returning to 2019, leaving the mess of Dallas and the 1960's behind them, Team Zero (formerly known as The Umbrella Academy) is met with a new family, a former 'parent' and threat on their lives.Long story (kind of) short, this is how Vanya earned herself a one way ticket to the infamous, Hotel Oblivion.Fiveya Week 2020 - Day 4: Sparrow Academy AU
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy/Vanya Hargreeves
Series: I Fell In Love With My Best Friend [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1994572
Comments: 8
Kudos: 32
Collections: fiveya week (round 2)





	1. I Am Drowning, God, Please Don’t Save Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Blackat14](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackat14/gifts).



> I am gifting this fic to the one and only Blackat14. In the short time I've known Kat from The Discord, I have already sent her various ideas, snippets, or images asking her for thoughts with little to no context, and she is always very supportive. And she has sent me many music and webtoons recommendations, as well as generally screaming at and with each other about fics we've read. No matter how many times we murder each other in Among Us......no hard feelings Kat..........Kat is one of the people I've gotten rather close with, I'd say, on The Discord and we _try_ to keep each other safe through the internet. ALSO, I've made this fic a bit angstier than I typically write because Kat has said, many times, that she likes more angsty fics so......this is the result!!

There hadn’t been time to get over the joy of returning to 2019,  _ thankfully _ , before finding out that not only was their father alive, he wasn’t their father anymore, Ben was alive again, but wasn’t their Ben, and that their  _ no longer _ father had replacement kids of them, The Sparrow Academy. There was even less time for the former Umbrella Academy, now Team Zero, apparently, to prepare themselves before the entirety of The Sparrow Academy had descended upon them.

To make Reginald’s long, drawn out monologue short, unless there was a way for them, Team Zero, to guarantee they wouldn’t ruin this alternate timeline, universe, world, Vanya didn’t know what to call wherever the hell they are exactly, and if there wasn’t, Reginald was going to have The Sparrows kill them all.  _ But _ , Vanya did know a way to ensure nothing would happen to this alternate place, or her siblings.

And all it took was one sentence, “I am the apocalypse.” And she had her one way ticket to Hotel Oblivion, alone.

The menacing Hotel Oblivion, which apparently is on the dark side of the moon, became even more decrepit on the inside than the building appeared on the outside. (The opening and closing curtains Vanya had seen on her guided trip from some space lab Reginald had only unsettled her more than she thought she could be.  _ Which must’ve been where Luther was for four years. _ ) The pleas and cries from her siblings repeating in her mind, trying to either come with her, keep her with them, or promises of rescue. Even when she tried to help them, to save them, she only managed to hurt them.

Apparently the televator wasn’t working, more likely Reginald’s hatred of her transcended universes and he didn’t want to waste the energy on her to use the televator; so she was being guided from the space station, across the goddamn moon, to Hotel Oblivion by a little robot, who, upon learning the robot had no name, was named Ben by Vanya.

But, as quickly as robot Ben rolled into her life, just as Vanya was within a few steps of the Hotel, he left her with a beep, which Vanya took as a goodbye, and watched as he rolled away before being engulfed by Hotel Oblivion.

The lobby, or what  _ used to be _ the lobby, of Hotel Oblivion looked like it had once been moderately refined. But the shattered chandeliers, chipped marbled (for some goddamn reason) floors, splintering wooden reception desk, smashed adorning light fixtures (some could still flicker), and the walls having some reddish-brown paint smeared across it, ruined whatever level of pristine the lobby had been.

While Vanya had been taking in the lobby of where she’d be living for an undetermined amount of time, possibly for the rest of her life,  _ god that’s terrifying to think about _ , something or someone, bumped into her. And when she turned to look at who or what had bumped into her, Vanya found a person,  _ maybe _ , in a bellhop uniform but they had no face and greyed skin.

The bellhop bent down and grabbed a suitcase with a sparrow mark on it that had been sitting near her feet, she hadn’t noticed it, and got handed a set of keys from the board behind the desk by another bellhop. Where were these people? Aliens? Creatures coming from? The first bellhop lead her from the lobby into an elevator.

Vanya tried to make small talk with the bellhop, forgetting they had no mouth to reply with, throughout the elevator ride and the further walk to wherever the hell the bellhop was leading her. While they walked, Vanya made a comment, a joke really, about something pointless but as they passed a room with the door cracked open, a voice hissed to them, or maybe just to her, “The phone never rings.” before a clawed hand pulled the door closed with a slam. 

What the fuck does that mean? The phone never rings?

She didn’t even bother trying to ask the bellhop for any clarification as to what  _ that _ could possibly mean. Vanya resigned herself to having far more questions than answers she’d get for the duration of her stay in Oblivion, and instead took the remainder of the walk to presumably her room as time to observe more of the near ruins the Hotel had been left in. A reddish-brown stain on the floor told her that what had been on the walls of the lobby was very much not paint, and something had happened in the Hotel that caused its guests to turn on one another.

Vanya didn’t want to find out what had been the catalyst for it.

The bellhop suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway, Vanya nearly crashing into them. The bellhop unlocked the door to room, the number on the door reading 537, put the suitcase just inside the room, handed her the key, then pushed her in when she didn’t move and closed the door with a slam. Looking around the room, Vanya was annoyed that the guests of Hotel Oblivion had better rooms, which were actually furnished and spacious, than she had at The Academy for years, but regardless there were two objects in the room that were drawing her attention. The suitcase, and the television.

She grabbed the suitcase and dropped it on the bed, Vanya quickly pulled the straps that had been holding the suitcase closed and watched as it fell open. There were, surprisingly, a few items in the suitcase, a journal and 2 pencils, some basic hygienic items, one change of clothes, and a self-help book entitled ‘Be A Better You: Your Life In Hotel Oblivion’ written by none other than Reginald Hargreeves.

As much as Vanya wanted to either toss the book out the window or simply burn it, the windows wouldn’t open and she had nothing to burn it with. So she just shoved it under the bed, out of sight out of mind and all that, and turned her attention to the television.

When it turned on, blacks, whites, and greys filling the screen, there was the sparrow image, again, the same one imprinted on the suitcase, then there was a cartoon of a mouse-bug walking, finding a hole in the ground, finding another mouse-bug in the hole and pulled them out, the second mouse-bug ripped their eyes out soon after, and the darkness (was it supposed to be blood?) spilling from the second mouse-bug’s eyes spread to the first, both being engulfed in the darkness, the cartoon showed the mouse-bug, not covered in whatever that was, trapped in the eye of the infected, corrupted, dark mouse-bug before Vanya clicked the screen off.

She debated about what to do next, she could stay in her room and stare at the same 4 walls until something,  _ or someone _ , made her leave or she could go explore some of the corners of Oblivion, and hope she didn’t run into anyone that would want her head on a pike.

But as fate would have it, Vanya didn’t have a choice in the matter as there was some rather forceful pounding on her door. She didn’t think to use the peephole on her door before pulling it open, assuming it had just been the bellhop, and that assumption would be what would lead to another week of hell in Vanya’s life.

As soon as she opened the door the slightest bit, a hand from the other side grabbed the door and shoved it open, nearly knocking Vanya to the ground. The owner of the hand crossed the threshold of her room, two others filing in behind them. And when Vanya recognized the three figures that had barged into her room.

The Murder Magician. The Conductor. And, the worst of them all, Dr. Terminal.

“Look what we’ve got here gentlemen,” Dr. Terminal said, evidently the leader of at least this small group, maybe the entirety of Hotel Oblivion, “yet another guest, checking into the glorious Hotel Oblivion  _ forever _ .” What? No! She was here forever?! There were hands on her shoulders and she was being pushed out into the hallway as Dr. Terminal called behind her “Let’s give this  _ little darling  _ a warm, Hotel Oblivion welcome.”

The hallway outside her room was filled with various other villains, ‘guests’ in Hotel Oblivion. Some of them she could recognize from within the sea of faces, most she couldn’t. “What’s your name  _ Darling _ ?” Dr. Terminal purred into Vanya’s ear, sending an unnerving shudder down her back. 

“Vanya.” She wold him, internally wincing. With bated breath she waited for them to pounce on her, tear her limb from limb, and when they didn’t, and none of them seemed to recognize her, Vanya only then realized they would have no memory of her or her connection with The Umbrella Academy.

To them, she had no ties to superheroes.

To them, she was one of them.

She belonged.

“Vanya.” Dr. Terminal repeated, as if he were trying out her name on his tongue, “Well  _ Vanya _ , we have an exhilarating time planned. Just, for, you, my darling.” 

Whatever semblance of belonging Vanya felt with some of the most notorious villains she’d ever heard of didn’t distract her well enough from the putrid green hallways or the common room that she was being led towards that she hadn’t seen before. From what Vanya could see approaching the room, there were even more people  _ waiting _ in the room for them, surrounding something she couldn’t quite see.

But she would quickly learn that what  _ was _ waiting for her, would be one of the top ten, if not top five, worst experiences in Vanya’s life.

In the midst of the crowd there was a modified dentist’s chair with restraints and a tray with various objects, a small vial of pink liquid, a syringe, and a makeshift gag she would learn later, but was only seen by Vanya once the crowd parted for the three people behind her. By the time Vanya realized what was likely about to happen, there were two forceful grips on her arms, keeping her from being able to escape, and to make things worse, Vanya hadn’t been able to feel the faint buzz of energy her powers typically gave her since she’d entered Hotel Oblivion.

She was practically dragged into the chair, her arms held down by The Murder Magician and The Conductor while another person she didn’t recognize strapped her arms down, then her chest while Dr. Terminal had begun to play with the items on the tray. “You know,  _ Vanya _ ,” Dr. Terminal cooed, talking to her as if she were an overly emotional child in the midst of a meltdown, “it’s not every day we get quite an exquisite  _ specimen _ to play with.” Specimen? The fuck?

“What the hell are you talking about?” Vanya asked, then immediately silently berating herself for being such a cliche. As if the ‘villain’ in what she wished was just an imaginary plotline and not her actual life would just spill all their plans after being asked.

As she’d  _ honestly _ expected, Dr. Terminal didn’t answer the question, nor did anyone else, instead she got a smirk from Dr. Terminal as he stepped closer, Vanya then realized he was holding a gag with a rubber ball strung through it. Vanya tried, as best she could despite the restraints, to pull away from Dr. Terminal but physically was unable to as Dr. Terminal shoved the rubber between her teeth and strapped the band onto her head before dropping her head back onto the chair with a thump.

Rather than monologue his plan for global takeover, choosing not to feed into a cliche villain, Dr. Terminal instead moved to fiddle with the syringe and vial that had been left on the tray. There were murmurs and maniacal laughter around her, but all Vanya could focus on was the needle moving towards the crux of her elbow.

Again Vanya tried to move, and again was stopped by the restraints on her arms and across her chest, but it was a fruitless effort and she couldn’t do anything more than wince as the needle jabbed into her skin, watching the pink liquid slowly was pushed through the needle and into her. She waited for  _ something  _ to happen. Waited. And waited. 

And nothing.

Dr. Terminal, The Murder Magician, The Conductor, and seemingly every other villain in the room on the other hand seemed to know  _ exactly _ what was happening, or what  _ would _ be happening.

The restraints on her arms and across her chest were undone, the gag pulled from her mouth, and Vanya quickly pushed herself out of the chair, and nearly faceplanted as a result. Just before she  _ did _ faceplant onto the linoleum flooring, there were hands on her arms again, different than The Murder Magician’s and The Conductor’s from before. “You should be more careful my dear  _ Vanya _ ,” Dr. Terminal purred into her ear, sending yet another chill down her spine, her heart felt like it was pounding out of her chest, most things were doubled and blurred, and she could barely hold herself up as he continued, “not everyone in here is as  _ pleasant _ as I am.”

Vanya felt her feet leave the ground as someone, Dr. Terminal possibly, picked her up and then, she was waking up in her hotel room, on her bed, full clothed, alone. With a splitting headache and still slightly doubled vision.

The light that  _ did  _ manage to get through the window was worsening her already pounding headache, causing Vanya to shut her eyes for the slightest second before a familiar voice called “Vanya!”

Her eyes snapped open, flickering around the room despite the brightness of the light, expecting to see someone, only to find herself still alone. Completely, and utterly, alone.

Just as she was about to close her eyes again, seriously thinking about hiding in the bathroom for its lack of windows, a shadow, a figure, appeared at the edge of her vision. And when she looked over at them, expecting them to simply disappear or have never been there at all, she was rather shocked when she looked over and saw, “Five?”


	2. I Don't Know What You Did To Me, I Can't Breathe But I'm Living

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things only get worse, and worse, and worse. But hopefully, they'll start getting better soon, right? Right?

There was no logical way for Five to be there. It had been what, a day, if that, since she’d gotten to Hotel Oblivion. And it’s no like Five could just jump all the way to the moon, and certainly wouldn’t if he could just for her.

Not without a plan at least.

“Vanya,” Five started, but there was something _off_ about him, “what are you doing?”

Her response tumbled from her lips without a thought, “What?”

Five scoffed, rolled his eyes, and set a glare on his features in less than a second before his glare was set on her as he told her, “Don’t play dumb Vanya. You know _exactly_ what you’re doing. I should’ve known you’d take the easy way out.”

“What the fuck are you talking about Five?” She hissed at him, pushing herself off the bed a bit too quickly and was dizzy for a brief moment before adding, “I did this to help _you_ Five! Protect you guys!”

Five scoffed, a disgusted look pulled across his face as he sneered, “Protect us? Help me? Vanya, you’re the cause of all our problems.” She must’ve looked as confused as she felt since Five scoffed, again, and added, “Don’t you get it? The world wouldn’t have ended, twice nearly a third time, if it wasn’t for you!”

Vanya felt as if there was a void in her chest where her heart had once been, “Five-”

“Shut up Vanya!” Five snapped, causing her to nearly flinch away from him, “You’d think someone would learn to shut the fuck up after selling out the family secrets to the world in a desperate attempt at fame, for some pitiful scraps of attention.”

“N-no, I,” Vanya stammered, the void-like feeling in her chest growing “Five you don’t-”

“For god’s sake Vanya, don’t you ever stop talking and listen? Just for once in your life!” Five snapped at her again, this time she jumped away from him and nearly tripping over her own feet in the process, “You like to play the victim, but guess who’s putting themself in the corner?” The void grew a bit more. “Who’s constantly pulling themself away from others?” It spread a bit, sinking into her arms and her stomach, clawing up her neck. “Who’s willingly getting locked away, on basically another planet, rather than staying with the people they _claim_ to care about, but ditch at the soonest convenience in favor of their latest fling?” It licked at her fingertips, hooking itself to her ankles, wormed itself into her ears. “Who is it Vanya?”

There wasn’t anything she could say. Nothing she could tell him that would make all the horrible things she’d ever done, done to him, _better_ or go away. The voice whispering in her ears told her that it was, “Me.”

“Exactly.” Five emphasized, “You blame everyone else, for your shortcomings. Your mistakes. For you.”

It was hard to believe that Five of all people would be the one to sear such vicious things into her, at her, about her. Vanya scrunched her eyes shut, as if that would be enough to block out the words falling from Five’s lips. She’d expected to hear more jabs coming from Five, only slightly muffled by her hands, but as she shoved her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut, it all stopped. For a moment, she thought it was just Five waiting for her to pay attention to him again before he continued to berate her.

With great hesitance, Vanya slowly removed her hands from covering her ears and cracked her eyes open, finding Five to be gone. “Five?” Vanya called into the empty room, hoping that, despite the fact he’d been making her feel like shit, he was still there, that she wasn’t completely and utterly alone. “Five?” Vanya called again, bordering on more of a cry as panic filled every fiber of her being. One last time, Vanya called for Five, he wasn’t there. No one was there. Just her. Alone.

As fear, and the aching familiar loneliness, began creeping into her bones, trying to drag her to the floor in a heap, unwanting for her to move, Vanya forced herself to move. Not allowing herself to be forced down by her own guilt and isolation by her own hand, rather than stay locked in her room as she’d intended, Vanya forced herself into the hallway, her room’s door shutting behind her with a foreboding and booming thud. 

Needing to move, the ache in her bones lingering still, trying to lull her into some kind of falsified security despite being forced away from her siblings and locked with some of the most maniacal, insane, blood-thirsty, spiteful people she’d ever heard of (she fit in quite well, now didn’t she?), Vanya turned to wondering aimlessly through the many halls and common rooms of Hotel Oblivion. She didn’t know where she was going, not in the slightest, and it’s not like there were maps plastered on the walls that could tell her anything. At least, none that would still be legible. When Vanya turned a corner, who’d been a bit surprised at the general lack of people _anywhere_ in the hotel, saw another figure she recognized. Not one of the villains her siblings had fought years ago, but “Allison?”

Her sister turned around, the movie star smile that had been on her face dropping when she realized it was Vanya, and not someone she needed to impress or exchange forced pleasantries with, no one important. “Vanya?” Allison asked, looking surprised that her sister was there. Vanya took a few quick steps towards her sister, not wanting to get too close in case this was going to be a repeat of what had happened with Five. “What are you doing here?”

“I, I could ask you the same thing.” Vanya replied, “How did you get here? Is, is everyone else here? Where did Five go?”

Allison looked at her with annoyance (a look she was _quite_ familiar with growing up, especially from Allison and Luther, and Diego, and Reginald), and asked her, “What the hell are you talking about? God, you always had to make everything about you? Couldn’t stand the fact that no one gave a shit about you and your little violin.”

“I, Allison what are, what are you talking about?” Vanya sputtered, feeling as if the pounding of her heart in her chest had been ripped out by her sister, just a few minutes after it felt like Five had stabbed it over and over. Without realizing she’d been moving until her foot hit a chair she hadn’t noticed, Vanya had been backing away from her sister, standing on opposite ends of the room.

Her sister huffed, rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms, “Vanya, can’t you think about anyone else for _once_ in your goddamn life? You’re so fucking self-centered and bitter that you didn’t want any of our attempts at reconnecting. Too busy with _Leonard_ to give a shit about your own family, your own sister.” Allison spat, looking at Vanya with disgust as she took a few powerful steps towards her, “And, when I _tried_ to help you, you attacked me.”

“That’s not what happened!” Vanya snapped. It felt like time slowed as she rewatched a faint wave shoot from her and hit Allison, slashing her neck open, again, and her sister was bleeding out. “Allison!” Vanya scrambled towards her sister, desperately trying to figure out what she could do to help. Knowing there was nothing she could _really_ do to help her sister. 

Just as Vanya reached Allison, she disappeared. She didn’t fade away. Or disappear in a flash of blue or white or any other color light. She was just, gone. Not even a drop of blood on the carpet. Gone without a trace.

Just like Five.

Had Allison ever even been there? Had Five? Were any of her siblings? Was she? Was Hotel Oblivion even real, or someplace her fucked up head made to make reason of all the shit she’d done? Some kind of self-inflicted personal hell of her’s.

Vanya figured having this breakdown would be better off in her room than out where someone else could see her and use it against her. It’s not like she knew how Hotel Oblivion worked anyway. She’d barely rounded that same corner, when she came face to face with none other than Reginald Hargreeves.

“Number Seven,” He spat, like just saying her number was a waste of his valuable time, and to him, it probably was a waste of time, “you will pull yourself together this instant. I sent you to Hotel Oblivion because you were a nuisance and a danger to the world, as well as your siblings. And I will not have you tarnishing the Hargreeves name _or_ The Umbrella Academy’s reputation.”

“I thought you only cared about The Sparrow Academy now?” Vanya questioned.

“Silence!” Reginald demanded, slamming the bottom of the cane he was holding on the floor, eliciting a boom that echoed off the walls, pounding her ears, “You will not speak to me in such a manner Number Seven. Your persistent disobedience and arrogance is why you will _never_ be able to gain the slightest bit of control over your powers and why you will _never_ be accepted into or by The Umbrella Academy.”

As much as Vanya wanted to either yell at Reginald that her siblings _had_ accepted her (or at least claimed to) and that she didn’t need his approval, not anymore, or to simply move and run away from him, cower away from him, and his insults as she’d done for her entire childhood. She couldn’t. Her feet remained planted, stuck as if in cement, and her mouth remained shut, unwilling to open because she knew whatever she would say to him would only get her into more trouble. She never did say the right thing anyway. 

“You are to remain in your room. Cause no disturbances. And act like the mature, adult you’ve been raised to be.” Reginald instructed, within a second of talking to him Vanya felt like a scared child again, “Dismissed.” 

Vanya moved as fast as her feet could carry her, finding her way back to her room without much issue. The door opened easily, only now did Vanya realize that she’d left without taking her key with her or locking the door behind her. Great. Rather than stay in her room, being sure to lock the door this time, already reliving Five’s scolding, Vanya retreated into the bathroom, and upon seeing the rather large and tempting bathtub, she decided to run herself a hot bath. Sprinkling in some light pink Sir Reginald Hargreeves’ Hotel Oblivion Bath Salts into the water, the additive having an odd smell to them and a powdery residue, but quickly dissolved in the hot water. So she didn’t worry about it. They must’ve just been a bit old.

Once she got into the bath, the warm water and the aroma coming from the bath salts helped Vanya clear her head and relax a bit. A few minutes of soaking later, just as it felt like she was completely at ease, and a few moments after she’d gotten out of the bath, wrapped in a towel, and walked back into her room, she had another visitor. “Hey Van.”

“Klaus?” Vanya asked, pulling her towel a little tighter around herself, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Now Vanya, that’s no way to greet your favorite sibling.” Klaus said, “Okay, third favorite, you are _not_ putting Ben ahead of me too. And besides, I’m just here to help you.”

Vanya repeated, “Help me?”

“Well, since you asked so nicely.” Klaus said, walking past Vanya and into her bathroom, coming back out with the little bottle of bath salts she’d just used and handing them to her, “Here, take these. You’re welcome.”

“Bath salts?” Vanya asked, looking at the bottle and the pink crystal rocks inside of it, “What are these supposed to help do?”

Her brother looked oddly smug, a knowing look on his face as he told her to “Read the label, carefully.” 

“Sir Reginald Hargreeves’ Hotel Oblivion Bath Salts” Vanya read aloud, giving Klaus a confused look because she had no clue what he was talking about.

“Pay attention.” Klaus muttered, pointing to the bottle, “Didn’t you notice the little marks around ‘Bath Salts’?” She hadn’t. “Oh come on, you’re smarter than that Vanya. Can’t you figure it out?” She couldn’t. “They aren’t _actual_ bath salts Van. They’re drugs. Probably to make the assholes here more obedient and docile for Reggie to control, as well as make their stay here more _pleasurable_ than without them.”

Looking at the pink crystal rocks, the realization of what Klaus is _suggesting_ that she do hitting her like, well, a rock. “How would I do _that_ with these? Is it even safe to do something like that?”

“Well Vanya, there are a _few_ ways to ‘do drugs’ and as the resident drug taking expert, I’d say find a way to grind them up, and you know,” Klaus said, pointing to his nose, tapping the side of it as he said “snort them. It’ll be less painful than some of my _other_ methods.” 

Vanya unscrewed the lid of the bottle, and poured a few of the crystals into her hand, feeling the sharp points of the crystals jabbing her hand. “And how am I supposed to grind them up? Or, like _snort_ them? I need _help_ Klaus.” When she looked up from examining the crystals in her hand, she shouldn’t’ve been all that surprised when another one of her siblings disappeared. Rather than experiment with _anything_ like that, at least for now, Vanya poured the crystallized rocks back into the bottle, twisted the lid shut, and left the bottle on top of the dresser, instead changing into a fresh set of clothes.

She hung her towel up in the bathroom to dry just as a set of knocks came at her door. Remembering how _well_ it went last time she answered the door, Vanya was perfectly fine on _not_ answering the door or even letting whoever was on the other side that she was even in her room. 

“Oh, Miss. Vanya,” That sounded an _awful_ lot like Dr. Terminal, “we know you’re in there. Now, we have the loveliest little surprise planned for you.” The door forcefully rattled, Dr. Terminal trying to force the locked door open. For a moment Vanya thought the door would come clean off its hinges with the seemingly large amount of power that he was putting on it. “Open the door Vanya! We just want to show you our little surprise. Come on, it’ll be fun.” Vanya made no move towards the door, took small breaths as quietly as she possibly could. And when she didn’t open the door, Dr. Terminal started to pull on it with such force that the wood around the hinges started to splinter as he screamed at her, “Open the fucking door Vanya! You ungrateful bitch! This would be a hell of a lot easier if you just fucking opened the door! You’re going to _wish_ that you’d just listened to me Vanya! Whatever the Sparrow Academy did is going to seem like child’s play compared to my plans for you!”

Her door was yanked from the frame with a crack as the wood broke. Vanya didn’t even hear herself scream as Dr. Terminal and The Conductor walked into her now doorless room, just felt the terror ripping from her throat until Dr. Terminal’s hand was around her neck, lifting her nearly a foot off the ground. Fury in his eyes. “We are going to have _so much fun_ Vanya. So much fun.” Dr. Terminal growled. His hand was holding her off the ground by her neck so tightly that dark spots started to cloud Vanya’s vision, and her head felt lighter and lighter as her lungs burned and begged for air.

Just as Vanya thought she was going to pass out, Dr. Terminal dropped her, letting her hit the floor before ordering The Conductor to grab her and follow him, which The Conductor did without a word and with an unnerving grin on his face. Vanya feebly protested, trying to bat away The Conductor’s hands as she barely managed to get some air back into her lungs, but was no match for him as The Conductor forced her up to her feet, pulling her up by both her wrists, and holding her in front of him as they walked, Vanya barely able to manage a few steps before stumbling or tripping.

Dr. Terminal led them to another location, not the same room they’d been in before, somewhere Vanya didn’t recognize from her walk earlier either. Although, to be honest, she couldn’t really recognize _anything_ right now. As they walked they neared a wall of vandalized posters, posters of the Sparrows, and the only one that wasn’t completely unrecognizable was “Ben.” Vanya stopped, looking at the poster, reaching a shaking hand out to it, Dr. Terminal and The Conductor also stopping, not that she really noticed. Or cared. “Ben,” Vanya repeated, fingers running along her kind of not really anymore brother’s face, “I, I n-need y-you to-to-”

“How do you know his name?” Dr. Terminal asked, his name wasn’t printed anywhere on the poster, and the public only knew them by numbers or codenames, just like The Umbrella Academy for years. “I asked you a fucking question, and I expect a goddamn answer you bitch. How the fuck do you know his name?”

Vanya answered, without thinking, “He’s, he’s my brother.” Then, she realized what she’d _just_ told people that hated The Sparrow Academy, and now thought she was part of The Sparrow Academy. Fuck. He wasn’t even technically her brother anymore.

“We have a Sparrow?” Dr. Terminal questioned, “In Hotel Oblivion?”

The Conductor grabbed her left arm, looked at it, “I don’t know about that.” The Conductor said, “She’s got no Sparrow tattoo.” then held it over for Dr. Terminal to look at.

Dr. Terminal peered down at her arm, finding the same tattooless skin that The Conductor saw, and Vanya knew she had. “I see,” Dr. Terminal said, taking on a very Reginald air that unnerved Vanya even further than she thought she could be, “but she’s also not on any of the fucking billboards of them either you idiot. So either, she wasn’t _good enough_ to be on the stupid Sparrow’s team _and_ Reginald Hargreeves couldn’t be bothered to train her powers _or_ she can’t do anything useful and was better off tucked away on the moon.” Dr. Terminal turned his attention from The Conductor to Vanya before continuing, “Either way, she’s got information I want. Now, let’s go, and don’t you _dare_ question me ever again.”

As Dr. Terminal began walking again, The Conductor grabbed Vanya’s shoulders and forced her forward, following behind Dr. Terminal once again. Vanya was _forcibly guided_ into another room, with a similar set up as the previous one. Was it last night when all that had happened? Or has it been longer? How long had she been here? It felt like yesterday when she arrived, yet it also felt like it’s been _years_ since she strolled in through the door. Perhaps, time moved at a different pace on the Moon than it did on Earth. Or maybe it was this altered timeline that had some different time elapsing speed that she wasn’t used to.

There were straps sliding over her wrists again by the time Vanya pulled herself from her thoughts, already in another altered dentist’s chair. Or maybe it was the same one, just in a different room. Vanya could feel one already wrapping around her stomach again, as well as some additional ones around her ankles, keeping her from moving her legs very much. There wasn’t much that she _could_ move, and what she could move wouldn’t exactly help her right now.

The Conductor, after tying the straps around Vanya’s wrists tightly, stepped out of the new room, the doors Vanya couldn’t see closing behind him with a loud thud. “You know _Vanya_ that this is where most supervillains would begin monologuing,” Dr. Terminal said, holding something that Vanya couldn’t quite make out, “explaining every detail of their plans. But the thing is, _Vanya_ that _I_ am not a typical supervillain. I am _the_ Dr. Terminal, the most notorious and terrifying and brilliant supervillains to ever grace the Earth. And I, am only monologuing to fill time while my assistant fetches my newest creation. Just for you.”

As Dr. Terminal finished, his gloved hand holding Vanya’s chin, forcing her to look at him, The Conductor returned with some bottle that rattled as he moved. Dr. Terminal outstretched his other hand, the one that _wasn’t_ touching Vanya’s face, and got the bottle from The Conductor. Dr. Terminal unscrewed the bottle’s lid shaking out some crystallized rocks, and while they were similar looking to the ones in Vanya’s room, these were nearly doubled in size and were a green-blue rather than the pink her’s were.

Before Vanya could realize what was happening, The Conductor’s hands were forcing her head back into the chair, one on her forehead, the other taking the place of Dr. Terminal’s hand on her chin. “Now Vanya,” Dr. Terminal started, “all I will tell you is that this is going to hurt like hell.”

The Conductor’s hands were pulling away from each other, forcing Vanya’s mouth to be as open as it possibly could be, and Dr. Terminal dumped the small handful of rocks into her mouth and down her throat. The crystallized rocks scratching her throat as they slid down, they were  _ nearly _ too big to actually fit on their own, but they dissolved enough that they were small enough to fit and slide down easier.

Unlike the previous time, it felt as if the effects of  _ whatever the hell that was _ worked in an instant. Vanya’s heart was pounding in her ears so loud it hurt, she had a pounding headache, she felt wildly tired, and her vision blurred drastically. She could feel herself slipping into a sleep like state, whether it was  _ actually _ sleeping or not was unclear. But either way, Vanya welcomed it.

Meanwhile, on the ground floor of Hotel Oblivion a certain spatial jumper and time traveler had just arrived with their four other siblings. And he was ready to take care of anything and everything in his way while on his mission to save  _ his  _ Vanya.


	3. I Heard Your Sirens Call, It Was Beautiful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things have to get a lot worse, like, _a lot worse_ before they can start getting better.

It had taken Five (and the rest of his siblings) nearly four whole days to manage to find a way to get _to_ the moon. That was four days too many. They’d managed to con a rocket ship, don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to, and flew to the moon, at a speed that was just short of warp speed, and managed to get there in roughly two days' time. Who knows what those psychopaths had done to Vanya by now? ~~Or _with_ Vanya?~~ He’d failed Vanya before, more times than he’d ever like to admit, and he didn’t want to do it again. Or any longer.

Five, unsure of how his jumps would be affected from being merely on the Moon’s surface, was the first to clamor out of the rocket, ready to charge straight into The Hotel Oblivion with no plan. And would have _if_ it wasn’t for Diego forcibly keeping him with their siblings, holding the back of his shirt as their other three siblings walked off the rocket. Waiting for Luther, Allison, and Klaus to get their slow asses of the rocket, Five looked up at the foreboding tower before them. As looked up at The Hotel Oblivion, the building towering over him did absolutely nothing for the stress hanging over him _or_ the fear building in his gut. Thankfully, before any of the emotions that could cause him to doubt his impending actions, his four most idiotic siblings were _finally_ off the rocket ship and were standing before the entrance of The Hotel. While he knew none of them, other than _maybe_ Klaus, would ever admit it, but it was ever so slightly reassuring to Five that he could see hints of fear and dread in themselves as well. It wasn’t just him. Five forcefully shook his head, forcing himself to not focus on his, or their, emotions.

Emotions would only prove to distract him from his goal.

Without waiting another millisecond, Five surged forward, forcing the grand, and heavy, front doors of Hotel Oblivion open. He could hear Luther, Diego, Allison, and Klaus following behind him, rocks and sand moving beneath their feet, tracking into the Hotel’s lobby, dirtying the already torn and soiled carpet ever further. (If he looked close enough, he’d be able to see the faint, tiny shoeprints Vanya had left mere days ago.) The moment the doors closed behind his last sibling, if Five had to guess he’d say it was Klaus, a figure, with greyed skin and, a bit unnervingly, no face was popping up from behind the desk and in a near sprint was standing before the group. The figure, in what seemed to be a bellhop outfit of some kind, tilted their head down, and if they had eyes would be looking at their feet, searching for something.

When the bellhop was unable to find whatever they’d been searching for, they tilted their head back up, their entire demeanor changed in a second. Less than a blink of an eye later, the bellhop had gone from being in an excited and eager state to one of something close to fury. Five guessed that his siblings would have difficulty telling, they had been trained after to rely on the tells facial features gave them, and with the bellhop having no features, they had no leads. 

Five couldn’t feel any energy that he typically had, nothing to spatial jump or time travel with, so to account for this malady, not that there was much more he could do at the moment other than order his siblings to run. And as soon as the word escaped his lips, the bellhop charged towards the nearest person, who was Diego, clearly intending to do _something_ to him. If it had been any of his other siblings, they likely wouldn’t’ve been able to dodge the speeding bellhop, but since it was Diego the bellhop had been charging at, his batman pretending brother did some stupid roll and flip off the bellhop, kicking them to the floor as Luther, Allison, and Klaus tore off further into Hotel Oblivion per Five’s order.

He waited back a moment, making sure that Diego’s dumbass wasn’t going to do something fucking stupid and get caught; and, as he’d suspected, rather than at least temporarily flee from the bellhop, his brother was going to try fighting them. For a second Five tried to jump, it was a short jump, it would be fine, and it didn’t work. Now, for sure without his jumps, Five relied on his training from Reginald _and_ his time at The Commission and maneuvered his ( _aging?_ ) older teenage body to be between his brother and this bellhop that apparently was aiming to hurt them, and likely kill them. Five, as Diego had done before, kicked the bellhop to the ground. But, unlike Diego had done, on some underlying instinct, went a bit further than _incapacitate_ the bellhop, standing over the figure, a leg on either side of the faceless person’s (Were they even a person? Some kind of alien? Or monster made by Reginald?) body, and without another moment of hesitation, Five made quick work of the bellhop and snapped their neck. Waiting a moment to be sure that the greyed figure wasn’t moving and still alive before moving away from the body and shooting Diego an annoyed.

“What the fuck were you doing?” Five hissed.

Diego, who’d been giving Five a glare of his own, retorted, “I could ask you the same thing.”

“Why didn’t you go like I’d told you to?” Five asked, completely ignoring Diego’s retort.

“I don’t take orders from you.” Diego answered him, “I don’t take orders from _anyone_ anymore, we’re supposed to be equals Five.”

Right. The ‘Team Zero’ shit his siblings had been talking about. “Right, well, at the moment, in case you haven’t notice Diego,” Five hissed, getting into his brother’s face, “we are in uncharted territory. On enemy turf. And if _you_ don’t start taking directions, we’re _all_ going to die. Or worse, be stuck here, with them, forever! Am I clear?” Diego, clearly a _bit_ intimidated by Five, quickly nodded. “Now _obviously_ you need to go find Luther, Allison, and Klaus, and meet back here. Try to find Vanya if you can.”

Five was already walking further into the Hotel, moving towards the elevators, Diego walking with him but going past the elevators as he asked, “And what are you going to be doing?”

The elevator dinged, Five stepping into as he told Diego, “I’m going to find Vanya.”

“Alone?” Diego asked.

“I have to.” Five answered, just before the elevator doors shut.

* * *

“Vanya?” She knew that voice. “Vanya, can you hear me?”

She felt like utter shit, her limbs heavier than lead and a killer migraine pounding in her head. “What's going on?” Vanya asked, her eyes adjusting to the sudden influx of light, when had it gotten to be so bright. Her eyes focused in on the person standing in front of her, but still couldn’t quite make out who it was, nor did she recognize their surroundings. “Where are we?”

“Vanya,” The voice said again, something nagging in the back of her mind was telling her, and _screaming_ at her, that she _knew_ who was talking to her, “you know exactly where we are.” Vanya tried to look around, her neck was stiff and it was painful to move her head too much. And when she still couldn't recognize where they were, They got frustrated, “Come on Vanya! You _know_ where we are. Don’t play dumb. You _know_ this.” The longer she looked at the gradually solidifying figure before her, the more it felt like the sense of recognition she felt grew stronger, and stronger. Vanya tried to bring one of her hands up to rub some residual _stuff_ from around her eyes (it's not like _most_ people knew what the stuff was called anyway), but was only met with both of her wrists being restrained by something. Firmly kept down, bound on either side.

The voice, much softer, and calmer, than it had been moments before, asked, “Do you need help?” It clicked. “Just ask Vanya.”

Vanya, as much as she could despite the stiffness, gave her brother and nod and said “I need your help Ben.” Ben, looking rather pleased with her near instant plea for help, moved to unfasten the restraints from her wrists, as well as the ones she hadn’t quite noticed. Once Vanya was freed from the bonds, Ben pulled her up from the _weird_ chair she’d been in, standing on _very_ unsteady legs for a few moments. As soon as Vanya had steadied herself and her head felt like it _wasn’t_ swimming anymore, she asked, “What are you doing here? I, I, I thought you weren’t, you _were_ a part of the, the Sparrow Academy?”

“I’m here, to be with you. Who cares about The Sparrow Academy?” Ben said, giving her the shy smile that she’d missed for years. In a second Ben’s demeanor changed from being the kind, nice boy she’d grown up with to cold, mean man that she’d briefly seen when they’d gotten back to 2019, “I’m wasting _my time_ being here with _you_ and that’s how you’re going to act?”

“I, I’m sorry Ben.” Vanya immediately said, her need to be liked, or at least tolerated, by her siblings ever still present, “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s, it’s just that I was _surprised_ that you were here. I’m not, I’m, I’m _happy_ that you’re here.”

Apparently, that was _the wrong thing_ to say as Ben hissed at her, “So it’s a _good_ thing? And you’re _happy_ that I have to be stuck in Hotel Oblivion?”

“I, no!” Vanya said, “That’s, that’s not what I-”

But Ben steamrolled right over her words, something _he_ typically hadn’t done before, not when it was just them at least, “You know what _your_ problem is Vanya?” he hissed, not waiting for her to provide him with any kind of response, “You like to build up these walls, and claim that you’re protecting yourself from others. But all you do, is trap yourself inside. All alone. And then, you have the audacity, to blame Us.”

“No, it’s, you’ve, I’m not-”

“Close your eyes.” Ben ordered, snapped at her. When she didn’t immediately, still a bit shocked that he’d flipped on her like this, Ben took a hold of both of her hands and put them over her eyes. “Count down from fifteen to zero.”

“But, Ben I don’t want to? Why do I need to?” Vanya tried to argue, but he was having none of it.

“Just do it.” he snapped. Anything she tried today other than ‘fifteen’ was met with him hissing the same thing at her. A bit resigned, Vanya began counting from fifteen down to zero aloud as she’d been instructed to do. While she counted, Vanya felt Ben pulling on her wrists, trying to pull her hands from covering her eyes, like some kind of test. Testing if she would listen to him, so she used the strength she didn’t realize she had and didn’t allow her hands to slide in the slightest bit from covering her eyes. 

At one point the pulling stopped, she felt the hands slide off and away from her own. Right around the time she got down to seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero. As she’d expected to happen with the _trend_ of things that had happened in the past, unclear _elapsed_ time, when she pulled her hands from covering her eyes, Ben was gone, and she was alone.

With nothing to do, and while it felt like her brain pounding out of her head, Vanya _attempted_ to find her way back to her now doorless room.

* * *

Five had been searching through the first few floors of the enormous tower, thoroughly looking through each and every room he stumped on, hoping that he’d find Vanya in one of them. He’d been yet to find her, but was determined to do so. Nothing was going to stop him from finding her. Absolutely nothing.

At first, he’d been sneaking around, being as stealthy as possible, not wanting to draw attention to himself in a hotel full of people that likely wanted to kill him. Especially if their _altercation_ with the bellhop was any indication to go by. It wasn’t until he’d walked into a large room that had _at least_ twenty villains in it, roughly seven of them spared him a glance. Not a single one moved in his direction. He wasn’t a threat to them. He wasn’t an enemy to them. He wasn’t a superhero to them. He was just one of them.

Now, knowing that it was likely that none of them would suspect anything of him walking around, Five freely walked around, acting as if he was meant to be there. That’s not to say he wasn’t being cautious, he was constantly keeping an eye on everything, every person he passed. Taking as many mental notes as he could of everything. He hoped that he wouldn’t miss Vanya tucked away somewhere or that she’d go somewhere he’d already checked.

While on his search, towards the start of his search on the third floor, he found something _unnerving_ and _hoped_ it wasn’t what he suspected it was. It had been so long ago that he couldn’t quite remember _exactly_ what _that_ chair looked like, but if the lack of blood in an exorbitant amount, dried and stained or fresh, was anything to go by, Dr. Terminal hadn’t been continuing his amputation practices while in Hotel Oblivion. While there weren’t any _visible_ signs of Dr. Terminal’s amputation antics persisting, the knocked over tray and broken glass on the floor was telling enough that _something_ was still going on, Five knew that if the villain _was_ still around, he’d be up to something. And Five needed to stay alert and on guard for him. Dr. Terminal always had some trick or plan up his sleeve.

Five just silently hoped that Vanya hadn’t been dragged into the middle of it.

He’d lost her once. Twice. Thrice. He wasn’t going to let it happen for a fourth time. 

Never again.

* * *

She’d been walking for a while. Maybe. Vanya didn’t really know how long it had been since she’d seen Ben and since had gone wandering. Did she see Ben? Their Ben or the other Ben? She’d been reading the room numbers as she walked. The numbers on the doors were blurring together, 534-216-347-172-675. Vanya didn’t remember walking up or down any stairs or getting on and off the elevators. What floor was she on? What was her number again? 7? No, that wasn’t right. Well, it was right, but not the number that she wanted.

Everything looked the same. As it turned out, her room wasn’t the only one with the door broken off the frame, and the fact that she couldn’t remember which floor it was on _or_ which floor _she_ was on, certainly didn’t help her. Vanya’s head was pounding again, worse than it had been before, her hands and feet felt like they were stinging for some reason, everything was blurring more and more, her stomach hurt, and exhaustion hung from her frame. All she wanted to do was find wherever the hell her room was, door or no door, and sleep.

“Vanya?” Some voice was called behind her. If it hadn’t been for the previous fifty-something times she’d turned back to find no one around her, she would’ve looked towards what _seemed_ to be the source, but seeing as she’d been deceived numerous times already, she didn’t. “Vanya!” It called again, “Vanya listen! It’s Klaus, and Diego! Your brothers!” That was new.

Still though, it wasn’t enough for Vanya to find the delusions worth having to turn around, and instead continued on towards where she hoped her room was.

“Vanya!” A _different_ voice called after her. That, was _also_ new. But still, not enough. There was no evidence that this all _wasn’t_ some delusion her mind had concocted from her time in Hotel Oblivion, so again, rather than acknowledge the voices, Vanya continued on towards somewhere; likely _not_ in the direction of her room.

The voices stopped talking to her for a moment, asking each other what they should do while thinking she must’ve been unable to hear them. She figured out how to tune them out as she walked on, continuing to read the numbers 214, 213, 212, 211. “Vanya!” The second voice hissed again, this time right into her ear, hands pulling on her arm, pulling her back, pulling her to a stop. Another hand was grabbing her other arm and spinning her around to see both Diego _and_ Klaus to be standing there, and not empty space as she’d been expecting.

“Are you okay?” Klaus asked, his eyes flicking around her figure, filled with concern as Diego’s hands coasted up and down her arms, hesitant to move anywhere else, “Didn’t you hear us?” 

While she could feel Diego’s hands touching her arms, touching her, she _knew_ that she couldn’t trust it. She couldn’t. They weren’t _really_ there. None of them had _ever_ been there. They _hadn’t_ been there. They _weren’t_ there. They would _never_ be there. No one was coming to her aid. Not this time. Not like she’d deserve it either.

Diego was saying something to her. She should be paying attention, even if he wasn’t _really_ Diego. “-I really need you to be listening to me, Vanya. You are just a liability, always in the way. And we just want to make sure you’re okay. We need to go and find the others, they’re all sick of you. Always sticking your nose in everyone else’s business. And we need you to come with us.” What the hell? No.

Vanya pulled her arms from Diego’s grasp, real or not, she wasn’t going with them. “No.”

“No?” Diego repeated, “What do you mean no?”

“You _have_ to come with us, Vanya.” Klaus said, moving from being slightly behind Diego to standing beside him, “Why would you want to stay here?”

“No.” Vanya repeated, taking steps backward, putting some distance between herself and her _possible_ brothers. When Diego and Klaus both took a step towards her, panic shot through her, fear of what might happen, Vanya snapped at them, “Get away from me!” followed by turning on her heel and running down the hall as fast as she could. 

* * *

Five had already searched the second, third, and now the fourth floor. Each coming up empty, only lingering evidence of various _vile_ and _nefarious_ activities that the disgusting maniacs locked in Hotel Oblivion that had been left behind that did _nothing_ to settle the building dread from within Five. He wanted and _needed_ to find Vanya and get the fuck out of Hotel Oblivion as fast as possible.

His previous suspicions, that _the chair_ he’d found before, with broken glass and dried bloodstains, wouldn’t be the only one, were only proved correct when he found the other one. Visually, it was used far less than the other, to the extent of looking almost brand new. While _this_ one was far cleaner, the lack of bloodstains helping with that, the ripped up leather around the ends of the armrests as well as the deep fingernail scratches at the ends were unsettling. The arms of the chair _looked_ as if there had been some kind of restraint there before, that had been ripped off, tearing at the yellowed leather.

All that Five could hope for was that he’d find Vanya soon.

Seeing as that searching the entirety of Hotel Oblivion single-handedly was proving to be, as much as he was reluctant to admit it, a bit too difficult for Five to do. In the _hopes_ that his second most idiotic brother had managed to find their other siblings, Five started to head back towards the lobby. As Five walked through the hall, nearing the elevators, the floor was _eerily_ quiet; the entire time he’d been walking through Hotel Oblivion, there had always been some chatter or shuffling or something in the background. But now, nothing. And there’s no way in hell, that meant anything good.

While in the elevator, which seemed to have gotten twelve times slower going down from the fourth floor to the first floor, just as the elevator passed the second floor, too late for him to stop the elevator on the floor, he heard someone, Vanya, yelling at someone. What she was saying exactly, he wasn’t quite sure, but it didn’t matter all that much to him. All the mattered was that he’d found her, now all he had to do was get to her. And out of the elevator without another incident.

But nothing in his life was ever as easy it sounded, or should’ve been.

* * *

One second she was running from, from, from something, something she couldn’t remember. One second she was running down one of the many, many, many repeating halls of _wherever_ she was, and the next second she _could_ remember was when she was standing in the doorframe of what she was pretty sure was her room. The door had been fixed, in whatever span of time she’d been forcefully gone for. It felt like weeks had passed since she’d seen the room.

Rather than locking the door as she’d done before, seeing how well it had gone over with, with Them, Vanya just closed her room’s fixed door behind her, before trudging over to her still made bed. She tried to kick her shoes off as she pulled the mauve, slightly-dust covered comforter, only to realize she’d been walking around Hotel Oblivion, on the worn, broken glass littered, blood stained (and likely other bodily fluid stained as well) carpets in her bare feet. Not worrying about her apparent lost shoes, not seeing them in her room anywhere either, Vanya just slid into the cold bed. The exhaustion weighing down every fiber of her being, which had been temporarily forgotten about when dealing with _whoever_ before, had returned five times over. Mere seconds after Vanya pulled the comforter back up, she drifted off.

* * *

Much to Five’s surprise, once he arrived in the lobby, Luther and Allison were already there, both looking at the body left on the floor. Both Allison and Luther looked over to him when the elevator opened with an annoying ‘ding’, obvious looks of curiosity on their faces. “Where’s Diego?” Luther asked, “And Klaus?”

“I don’t know.” Five answered, stepping from the elevator despite how much he wanted to turn right around and find Vanya, “Diego was supposed to be finding you guys and Klaus.”

“Yeah, we know.” Allison said, “He told us to wait here for you.”

There was another ‘ding’ from the elevators, followed by “Oh thank god! You’re all here.” coming from Klaus as he and Diego walked out of another elevator. Once they joined Luther, Allison, and Five’s little half circle, Klaus asked, “Did any of you guys run into Vanya all wacked out and shit?”

“You found Vanya?” Five hissed at Klaus and Diego, well, mostly Klaus, while much to his surprise Allison and Luther said that they had as well. “If all four of you idiots found and were with Vanya, why didn’t you bring her with you? Do I have to do everything myself?”

As Five, like he’d wanted to do already, was storming back towards the elevator, Diego reached out and snatched his arm, dragging him back as his brother said, “Shut up and listen Five. There’s, there’s something not _right_ with Vanya.”

“Go to hell Diego.” Five hissed, forcing his arm from Diego’s grasp, only for the other to be pulled even further from his destination by Luther. God, he missed his jumps right now. “What the fuck is wrong with all of you?”

“He’s right Five.” Luther said, “Vanya, she’s, she was acting _weird_ and it was like there was something manic about her.”

Wrenching his arm from another one of his brothers’ grasp, Five turned on Luther and spat, “Well, forgive me if I don’t trust _your judgment_ on Vanya, based on past _incidents_ Luther.”

“It was one time! And I shouldn’t have done it, and I’ve apologized.” Luther argued.

“Bullshit! You didn’t apologize because you thought it was wrong, you just apologized because you felt guilty that your plan to lock Vanya away went to shit!” Five hissed, turning from just yelling at Luther to all of his siblings, he continued, “Forget it, I can do this without you dumbasses. You can all fuck off for all I care. I don’t need any of you.”

Allison, his only competent, present sibling, who’d been mostly quiet for the most part of this _discussion_ asked him, “Do you even know where you’re going Five?” which, stopped Five temporarily in his second attempt at storming off towards the elevators. “Because,” she continued, “I have a feeling that there’s a records book of some kind that would have which specific room in the _thousands_ in Hotel Oblivion is Vanya’s at the front desk.”

Five stopped once again, looking past his idiotic brothers to his sister, and asked, “And do you happen to have _seen_ this book? Because it’s not like you can use your Rumor here.” A look of shock appeared on Allison’s face at that. Evidently, she thought she’d be able to rumor something like that into existence and use it to bribe Five into ‘playing nice’ with these dumbasses. “None of our powers work from within the confines of Hotel Oblivion.” 

With his siblings, and times like this he _really_ wished they weren’t, completely and utterly confused and shocked, “Now, if you’re all done wasting my time, I have something _important_ to take care of.” And, for a third and final time, Five walked back to and into one of the elevators. Something in his gut told him that he should be going to the third floor, not the second. Like there was something drawing him there. And Five sincerely hoped it was Vanya. 

* * *

It had felt like only a few minutes had passed before Vanya was waking up from her too short nap. But, when she woke up, she wasn’t in Hotel Oblivion. She was back in her shoebox bedroom at the Academy. As much as she’d despised the four plain walls and small room for years, she’d never been as happy to be in it as she was right now.

Vanya threw her feet over the side of the bed, happily sliding out of the tiny bed, her feet hitting the cold wooden floor welcomingly. While most mornings or days waking up in the Academy were often filled with dread (especially after Five left, and more so when Ben died), but this time, this one time, Vanya was overjoyed to be spending another day at the Academy.

Walking to her bedroom door, Vanya pulled the wooden door open, feeling the skirt she hadn’t realized she’d been wearing swishing against her legs. Stepping into the hallway it was eerily quiet. The Academy was hardly ever silent _unless_ it was after a mission they’d performed poorly on or and a _very_ bad afternoon of training. Rather than walk towards any of the common rooms, where she was susceptible to running into Mom or Pogo or Reginald, Vanya walked towards first Klaus’s room, empty, then Diego’s, empty, Ben’s, empty as well. 

Two quick flights of stairs later she was checking Five’s, and he wasn’t there either. Vanya descended one flight of stairs, walking to Allison’s room, still slightly jealous of how big her sister’s room was compared to her own, but again, the room held none of her siblings. Something audibly moved in the room next to Allison’s that drew Vanya’s attention, Luther’s room.

She quickly closed Allison’s bedroom door and moved a few feet over to Luther’s bedroom door, pushing it open. Unlike the five other times she’d opened one of her siblings’ bedroom doors and found no one on the other side, this time, as she pushed open her brother’s door and Luther, thirteen year old Luther, was standing on the other side of it.

“Luther” Vanya started, “where is everyone? And why do you-”

“Vanya,” Luther huffed, cutting her off, his voice in the tone he’d use when he acted like he was  _ so much better _ than Vanya, and he felt she was disrespecting him, “what do you think you’re doing out here? After everything you did.”

Vanya, confused, asked, “What are you talking about Luther? What did I-”

“Shut up!” Luther hissed, “You’re a threat. A danger to everyone. Dad should’ve left you in the chamber in the basement, because  _ clearly _ you’re incapable of learning to control yourself  _ or _ your powers.”

“No!” Vanya cried, “You’re, you’re lying. I, I just, I just need time-”

“Don’t talk back!” Luther yelled. Vanya couldn’t remember the last time Luther had yelled like  _ that _ at any of them. “You need to be dealt with. Don’t you know what they do to  _ animals _ that are too dangerous to be around people? They put them down.” Luther took a few powerful strides towards Vanya as she took a couple of meek steps back, “You’re a monster, Vanya.” His arm were wrapping around her neck again, and she didn’t like where this was going. Vanya feebly tried to push her always, always much stronger brother away as his arms tightened and tightened around her throat again. Her vision was darkening quickly and her throat burning once again. She hated that feeling the first time, never thought that she’d feel it again. Especially not from Luther, again. “And,” Luther whispered right into her ear, “monsters can’t be saved.” before everything was dark.

It was dark.

Dark.

Was this how death was?

Nothing but darkness.

There was a light. It was far away, just a little dot. “Vanya?” It called. The voice sounded familiar.

“Vanya? Can you hear me?” She knew who that was. She  _ knew _ exactly who it was.

“Vanya please.” The voice begged. Their name was on the tip of her tongue. “I need you. I need you to be the Seven to my-”

Light flooded into her eyes, staring back up at the ceiling of her room in Hotel Oblivion, and all she could think was, “Five.”   


* * *

Once the elevator’s doors opened on the third floor, Five stepped out and looked at the hardly legible sign listing which direction the number rooms were. He didn’t know which way he was meant to go, he still wasn’t sure why he went to the third floor.

As he stood at the sign reading 300-329 to the left and 330-360 to the right for what felt like an eternity, knowing he was so close but had no guidance as to how to get to her was agony in every second that passed, and as he waited, he felt a pull. He couldn’t tell what direction it was coming from quite yet. Five took a few steps to the left and  _ felt _ the pull, the connection, weaken with each step he took. And when he took a single step to the right and could feel the pull  _ strengthen _ twelvefold.

Five wandered into the hallway to the right, feeling the pull strengthen more and more as he walked past 330. Even more, as he passed 335, then more at 345, by the time he reached 355 he could  _ feel _ how close he was to her. He hoped. As he slowly stepped in front of the room numbered 357, yes he lingered a bit more in front of it solely because the 5 and the 7 were together, but, as he lingered in front of the door, there was something from within the room that felt  _ comforting _ to him.

Not expecting anything to happen, Five tried the doorknob, expecting it to be locked or needing a key, but was pleasantly surprised when it opened easily. As the door to 357 swung open, Five peered into the room mostly checking to see if anyone he  _ wasn’t _ looking for was within. When he didn’t see anyone at first, Five stepped into the room, quickly clicking the door shut behind him. Once he was in the room, Five immediately took note of the figure that had been swallowed up by the bed’s comforter with achingly familiar brown hair  _ barely _ poking out from beneath it. 

Not wasting another second, even if it was someone else with brown hair the  _ exact same shade _ as Her’s, he needed to see if they were her, and Five was scrambling over to their side. He pulled back the comforter, for a second his heart leap into his throat while a second of fear speed through him, but quickly dissipated as soon as he saw her face. Every time that they’d ever shared one of their beds, typically his since it was bigger than hers, she’d always looked peaceful and calm in her sleep the few seconds they had late at night or early in the morning. But now, taking in her sleeping face now, he could  _ see _ the distress engrained in every feature. Something wasn’t right. Something was very  _ very _ wrong.

“Vanya?” Five called, not wanting to startle Vanya anymore from what was  _ likely  _ a very traumatic experience. Vanya gave him no sign that she’d even heard him. “Vanya?” Five tried again, “Can you hear me?” Still nothing.

What the hell happened? For as long as he’d known Vanya, she’d  _ always _ been a fairly light sleeper, but now, it seemed nothing he did would be enough to wake her. “Vanya please.” Five begged, he wasn’t a person that would typically beg anyone, but Vanya had always held different standards with him, “I need you.” Five admitted, “I need you to be the Seven to my-”

A quiet “Five.” came from the bed. Vanya’s eyes were opened and gazing up at the ceiling. How had he missed that?

“Vanya!” Five gasped, carefully reaching out to help Vanya sit up in the bed. He wasn’t sure if it was because she’d  _ just  _ woken up or if it was because it was  _ him _ helping her, but it wasn’t until she’d been propped up on the headboard that Vanya started to look at him funny. “What’s wrong? Please, let me help you.”

Vanya whispered, more to herself than directed at him, “You’re not real.” in such a quiet whisper that if he hadn’t been stood right next to her, Five likely wouldn’t have heard it.

“What?” Five asked, sitting on the edge of the bed, “I’m real. I’m right here Vanya.”

Five slowly reached one of his hands towards hers, hoping to be able to hold her hand and give her  _ some _ comforting after everything that had happened that he didn’t know about, not yet anyway. But, before his fingers could graze the tips of hers, Vanya ripped her hand away from him, drawing her knee up to her chest, muttering to herself over and over “You’re not real. You’re not real. You’re not real.”

“Vanya,” Five tried again, her eyes didn’t even shift towards him, like he hadn’t said anything at all, “I’m real, I promise.” Still, he got no reaction from Vanya, nor any acknowledgment that he was even there. 

Five was most _ definitely _ at a loss as to what to do. He hasn’t had to comfort someone like  _ this _ in several decades. His heart was pounding so loudly in his chest he could barely think of anything to do. A moment’s pause of thinking with his heart pounding in his ears gave him just the solution he needed.

Knowing that he would likely upset Vanya by doing so, as much as it would hurt him to be the source of pain for her, even for just mere seconds if it worked, Five had to fortify himself and push through. Without giving her any warnings or signs as to what he was going to do, still silently praying to the  _ possible  _ little girl in the sky that it would work, Five quickly grabbed one of Vanya’s hands, ignoring the protests and whines she gave him when he did, and pressed her open hand to his chest, keeping it pressed there with his hand. There were brown, leather straps wrapped around both her wrists, that Five suspected had been ripped from the chair.

Vanya tried to pull her hand from him, no longer muttering any words but just whining and he could tell she was on the edge of crying. While she tried to pull her hand away from him, Five kept her hand there as he told her, “Vanya.” She turned her head from being angled towards him to facing the wall, “Vanya listen. You don’t need to listen to me or the words I’m saying.” her gaze slowly shifted back over to him, “Listen to my heart. Things that aren’t real, and aren’t here, wouldn’t have a heartbeat.”

While his heart was still pounding in his chest, he  _ needed _ her to believe him enough to do as he told her, as he pressed her hand to his chest, his fingers could feel the pounding her own heart was doing in her wrist. Five kept his eyes locked on hers, hoping that something, anything he was doing would help, and it did. He watched as the pure panic in her eyes dissolve into the mix of diluted relief and sadness he’d seen in them far too many times; and felt as the shaking her arms (as well as the rest of her) had been doing stopped.

“Five?” Vanya asked, her eyes jumping between different parts of him, “You’re, are you really here?”

He nodded, relief flooding his system, before Five verbally answered her question, “I’m really here.” As soon as he answered, Vanya practically jumped onto him, his arms wrapping around her without a second thought. Five ran his fingers through her hair, trying to comfort Vanya in any way possible as he repeated, “I’m here.” before adding, “The others are here too. They’re waiting downstairs. We’re all here to come get you and go h- leave. And leave” 

“We’re leaving?” Vanya asked, her voice was sounding very hoarse.

“We’re leaving.” Five answered, pulling back from his hug with Vanya to look her in her eyes, “When you’re ready, you and I will go walk to the elevators, and we’ll go downstairs together, and meet with the others, and then we’ll get on the rocketship waiting for us outside, and go back to Earth. Okay?”

Again, Vanya nodded, but he could it took her another second to fully process what he’d told her. “Earth.” He could hear Vanya mumble to herself before asking him, “Five, where are we?”

“The moon.” Five answered, “Look, I can explain everything you want to know later. But right now, I need you to just trust me and follow me. Okay?”

Vanya looked a bit hesitant for a moment, evidently whatever had happened that had her believing he wasn’t real, which was also likely what the others had seen to some degree, had renewed her urge to doubt everything before she said or did anything again. After a few seconds, she asked him, “Promise?” looking at him with the doe eyes that had him doing whatever she wanted him to do.

“Promise.” Five answered. He slid off the edge of the bed, before reaching back and offering Vanya one of his hands, which she took and hopped off the bed as well. “Ready?” Five asked, waiting for Vanya to give him a nod, moving to walk beside him very closely, practically curled into his side, before they set off towards the elevators.

Five and Vanya walked from her room, not taking anything with them seeing as none of the things in there were actually  _ hers _ and were unneeded, all the way back to the elevators without seeing or hearing another inhabitant of Hotel Oblivion. As much as something in his gut was practically screaming at him that something was wrong, Five didn’t want to upset Vanya again  _ or _ any further. Once they were in the elevator, Five pressed the button with an ‘L’ carved into it, the flecks of remaining black paint hardly visible at this point.

A short elevator ride later, the doors opened to the lobby, but  _ not _ just their siblings. As soon as the doors cracked and slid open, Five saw Dr. Terminal standing on the other side of it, two villains he didn’t know flanking both sides of him, while Vanya was curling herself to be as close to Five as possible, while also moving to be behind him, moving  _ away _ from Dr. Terminal. 

“Welcome, welcome, welcome.” Dr. Terminal started, a knowing grin on his face before he turned to address the mass of Hotel Oblivion inhabitants, “Disgusting, vile, and evil beings, today is a day of celebration. Today is the day, that we all take back our freedom. Today is the day, that we leave Hotel Oblivion for good.”

“No way!” Luther called from somewhere deep in the crowd, Five couldn’t  _ actually _ see his idiotic brother at the moment, “There’s no way you’re getting out of here Terminal. It’s the-”

Dr. Terminal held up one of his gloved hands and Luther’s voice was abruptly cut off, “Let me guess, it’s the end of the line? Be a  _ bit _ more original huh? Anyway, back to our celebration, as I’m sure  _ some of you know _ but, our favorite little  _ bomb _ has returned to us for one last escape.” With the snap of Dr. Terminal’s fingers, which was surprising considering the gloves, the two villains that had been standing next to him swarmed into the elevator, one was prying Vanya’s hands off of his shoulders while the other was yanking him away from her. Five had been completely caught off guard, he should've suspected something, he  _ did _ suspect something, but he hadn’t been ready for it, and was dragged away from Vanya because of it.

There wasn’t anything he could do but watch as Vanya struggled against the forceful hold the other villain had on her as she was also dragged from the elevator, away from him again, and towards where Dr. Terminal stood addressing his followers?

Dr. Terminal’s gloved fingers tilted Vanya’s head up to look at him, telling her something that was too quiet for Five to be able to hear. But whatever it was sent tremors through Vanya once again, as well as had her thrashing in the other villain’s grasp. Five, as well as likely everyone else in the large room, could feel the drop several degrees; But, while most of the inhabitants of Hotel Oblivion weren’t  _ entirely _ sure what was happening, Five had a fairly good guess at least  _ who _ was the cause. The hands that had been gripping Five’s shoulders dropped off, as had the ones on Vanya. Five wasn’t sure what was happening or what would be happening, but all he knew was that it would not be ending well for Dr. Terminal or his goons.

Five wasn’t sure  _ how _ Vanya could use her powers from within Hotel Oblivion while the rest of them couldn’t, but he was just glad that she could.

A sudden, sharp ringing ripped through the lobby, having Five shoving his hands over his ears, as did most of the other people in the room, all dropping onto the floor. All except four people, Dr. Terminal, his two assistants, and Vanya. The three villains seemed to be unable to move their arms, or really any part of their bodies, while Vanya was seemingly unaffected by anything. Nothing but cold fury on her face as she glared between the three men. Unlike when she’d been in a similar state at her concert, her eyes hadn’t changed into a shade of white, but remained the brown Five knew and had missed for so long.

Her glare was leveled at the man whose nails had been digging into her arms and shoulders, the ringing rose in frequency to a buzz for a second, and for that second Five honestly thought his ears may start bleeding before it quickly lowered back to the ringing. Just before the buzzing returned to a ringing, coming as a shock to everyone but Vanya, the villain’s head exploded, the now headless body dropping to the floor in a heap. While Five couldn’t see the villain that had been dragging him’s reaction, he  _ could see _ Dr. Terminal’s unabashed fear written on his face.

Within seconds of the first body dropping to the floor, Vanya moved onto the man that had been stood behind him, and then Dr. Terminal, each having the same fate as the first. But, when Dr. Terminal’s head exploded, coating the insides of his helmet with brain matter, the entire floor rumbled and groaned as excess anger-fueled energy ricocheted across the walls, blasting the front doors right off their hinges, taking the entire doorframe with it, sending the unit tumbling into the moon’s soil.

Before anyone else moved an inch, several waves of shock surfing through the room, Five scrambled over to Vanya, a light ringing still in his ear, but it was the least of his worries at the moment. Just as Five carefully slid one of his hands across her back, he could see the sudden drop in Vanya’s shoulders as evidently, the usage of her powers sapped a good portion of her energy.

Vanya’s hands scrambled to grab onto him, her fingers digging into the sleeves of his shirt as his hands held onto her arms. Five quickly began muttering various affirmations and reassurances to Vanya, trying to preemptively avoid any panic attacks or freak outs while they were still in Hotel Oblivion. There were only a few seconds that Five was able to do so before the rumbling that had been persisting since the doors had been blown from their hinges had evolved into loud groaning, bits of concrete and brick crumbling from the emptied frame, the falling crumbles growing size before the entire wall crumbled down in seconds.

It seemed that Hotel Oblivion was going to come crashing down.

The waves of shock at the transpired events that had had most of the room temporarily paralyzed, quickly dissipated as realization of what was going to come, and a good majority of the now  _ former _ inhabitants of Hotel Oblivion began running for the hole in the wall. Unfortunately, for practically every single villain that had tried to escape from the crumbling Hotel Oblivion, because of the lack of oxygen or atmosphere on the moon, many of them died. 

But, the Hargreeves, upon cautiously stepping out of Hotel Oblivion, were perfectly fine. There wasn’t much, or any really, time for them to talk about whatever the hell just happened and  _ had _ happened, seeing as Hotel Oblivion could crash down on them at any second. Instead, the Hargreeves quickly made their way back to their  _ acquired  _ rocketship, Luther instructing Allison, Diego, and Klaus how to help him launch it again. While they were getting their rocketship back into outer space, Five was comforting Vanya as the rocket’s loud and shaking take off had scared her. Whether it was because of her powers or because of whatever happened in Hotel Oblivion, Five didn’t know.

Just as they pulled off the moon’s surface, the rooftop and horrid sign fell, crushing the floors upon floors of Hotel Oblivion. Leaving nothing more than a dust cloud and the blinking sign in its wake. Now they had at least two days, drifting in space, until they could get back to Earth. And once they’d get back to Earth they’d have to deal with The Sparrow Academy, and worse, Reginald.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There..........will be a sequel starting soon.......eventually
> 
> Fic Update Survey: https://forms.gle/Zi7mhGkUczXaMChS8 :if you're interested


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